JP2020520120A - Fluid deposition and high density plasma treatment process cycles for high quality void filling. - Google Patents

Abstract

Embodiments disclosed herein relate to a method for forming a trench in a substrate and filling the trench with a flowable dielectric material. In one implementation, the method comprises depositing a substrate having at least one trench to form a flowable layer bottom-up on the bottom and sidewall surfaces of the trench until a defined deposition thickness is reached. And performing a first curing treatment that is a UV curing treatment on the fluidized layer, and performing a second curing treatment that is a plasma treatment or a plasma-assisted treatment on the UV cured fluidized layer. And the plasma-cured fluidized layer is filled in the trench, and the deposition process, the first curing process, and the second curing process are continuously repeated until a predetermined height above the upper surface of the trench is reached. Including doing. [Selection diagram] Figure 1

Description

[0001] Implementations of the present disclosure generally relate to a method for forming a trench in a substrate and filling with a flowable dielectric material.

[0002] The trench widths of modern devices have become narrower as the trench depth and width aspect ratios have increased such that it is difficult to fill the trenches with dielectric materials. Depositing the dielectric material tends to clog the top of the trench before it is completely filled, creating a void or seam in the middle of the trench. This problem is further exacerbated due to pattern loading effects, especially when forming trenches where the top and bottom of the trench have different diameters.

[0003] Therefore, there is a need in the art for new deposition processes that address the aforementioned challenges.

[0007] Embodiments disclosed herein relate to a method for forming a trench in a substrate and filling with a flowable dielectric material. In one implementation, the method performs a deposition process on a substrate having at least one trench to form a flowable layer bottom-up on the bottom and sidewall surfaces of the trench until a prescribed deposition thickness is reached. And performing a first curing treatment that is a UV curing treatment on the fluidized layer, and performing a second curing treatment that is a plasma treatment or a plasma assisted treatment on the UV cured fluidized layer. The plasma-cured fluidized layer is filled in the trench, and the deposition process, the first curing process, and the second curing process are continuously repeated until a predetermined height above the upper surface of the trench is reached. Including and.

[0008] In another implementation, the method deposits by reacting a silicon-containing precursor with an oxygen-based radical precursor and a nitrogen-based radical precursor to form a fluidizable layer within a trench of a substrate. Performing a treatment and curing the fluidized layer in a plasma chamber, wherein the second treatment chamber has an oxygen-containing atmosphere or a nitrogen-containing atmosphere, and curing the fluidized layer; The conductive layer fills the trench and continuously repeats the deposition process and the curing process until it reaches a defined height above the upper surface of the trench.

[0009] In yet another implementation, a cluster tool for processing a substrate is provided. The cluster tool includes a load lock chamber, a transfer chamber connected to a first side of the load lock chamber, and a plurality of first processing chambers connected to the transfer chamber, each of which is configured to deposit a fluidized layer. A plurality of first processing chambers, which are deposition chambers that can be performed, and a plurality of second processing chambers, which are connected to the transfer chamber, each of which is a curing chamber capable of performing a curing process. A plurality of third processing chambers connected to the plurality of second processing chambers and the transfer chamber, each third processing chamber being a plasma chamber capable of performing a plasma hardening process. And a factory interface coupled to the second side of the load chamber.

[0010] In certain other implementations, a cluster tool includes a load lock chamber, a first vacuum transfer chamber coupled to a first side of the load lock chamber, a second vacuum transfer chamber, and a first vacuum transfer chamber. A cooling station disposed between the vacuum transfer chamber and the second vacuum transfer chamber, a factory interface connected to the second side of the load lock chamber, and a plurality of first vacuum transfer chambers connected to the first vacuum transfer chamber. A plurality of first processing chambers, each of which is a deposition chamber capable of performing a deposition of a fluidized layer, and a plurality of second processing chambers connected to a second vacuum transfer chamber. A plurality of second processing chambers, each being a plasma chamber capable of performing a plasma hardening process.

[0011] For a thorough understanding of the above-disclosed features of the present disclosure, the present disclosure summarized above will be described more specifically with reference to the exemplary embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. However, the accompanying drawings show only typical implementations of the present disclosure and therefore should not be considered as limiting the scope of the implementations, the present disclosure allowing other equally valid implementations. Note that it is possible.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram showing selected steps of an exemplary method of forming a flowable dielectric layer that facilitates filling of trenches. FIG. 3 is a schematic three-dimensional view showing a part of a substrate. 2A illustrates the substrate of FIG. 2A during various manufacturing stages according to the flow diagram of FIG. 2A illustrates the substrate of FIG. 2A during various manufacturing stages according to the flow diagram of FIG. 2A illustrates the substrate of FIG. 2A during various manufacturing stages according to the flow diagram of FIG. 2A illustrates the substrate of FIG. 2A during various manufacturing stages according to the flow diagram of FIG. 2A illustrates the substrate of FIG. 2A during various manufacturing stages according to the flow diagram of FIG. 2A illustrates the substrate of FIG. 2A during various manufacturing stages according to the flow diagram of FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of a processing system that can be used to implement the processing sequence shown in FIG. 1 according to implementations of the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is a schematic top view of a processing system that can be used to perform the processing of the processing sequence shown in FIG. 1 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0017] For ease of understanding, wherever possible, identical reference numerals have been used to label identical elements that are common to the figures. It is believed that elements disclosed in one implementation may be beneficially used in other implementations without specific recitations.

[0018] FIG. 1 is a flow diagram illustrating selected steps in a method 100 of forming a flowable dielectric layer that facilitates filling of trenches. FIG. 2A shows a schematic three-dimensional view of a part of the substrate 200. 2B-2G are schematic cross-sectional views of a portion of the semiconductor device structure along line AA of FIG. 2A. 2B-2G show the substrate 200 of FIG. 2A during various manufacturing stages according to the flow diagram of FIG. 1 and 2A to 2G will be described together for the sake of clarity.

[0019] The method 100 begins at block 102 by transferring a substrate, such as the substrate 200 shown in FIG. 2A, into a substrate processing region of a deposition chamber. Suitable deposition chambers may include high density plasma CVD chambers, plasma enhanced CVD chambers, low atmospheric pressure CVD chambers and the like. An exemplary deposition chamber that may be adapted to form a flowable oxide/nitride layer is the Producer® ETERNA CVD® system, both commercially available from Applied Materials, Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif. Or an Ultima HDP CVD® system. It is contemplated that other suitable deposition chambers from other manufacturers could be used.

[0020] The substrate 200 has fins 202 formed thereon. Each fin 202 may serve as an active area where one or more devices are formed. Fins 202 form trenches 204 in substrate 200 using any suitable process performed on substrate 200, including masking, photolithography, and/or etching processes, leaving fins 202 extending upward from substrate 200. Made in.

[0021] The aspect ratio of the trench 204 is about 1:1, about 2:1, about 3:1, about 5:1, about 10:1, about 15:1, about 20:1, about 30:1, It may be about 50:1, about 100:1 or more. In some implementations, the aspect ratio of the trenches 204 can be about 10:1 to about 30:1, such as about 15:1. As used herein, the term "aspect ratio" refers to a particular feature, such as the ratio of the height dimension to the width dimension of trenches 204 formed in substrate 200.

[0022] The substrate 200 may be made of silicon (doped or undoped), crystalline silicon (eg, Si<100> or Si<111>), silicon oxide, doped or undoped polysilicon, and the like. III-V composite substrates such as silicon substrates, germanium substrates, silicon germanium (SiGe) substrates, gallium arsenide substrates, silicon carbide (SiC) substrates, semiconductors (SOI) on patterned or unpatterned insulating layers Substrate, carbon-doped oxide, silicon nitride, display substrate such as liquid crystal display (LCD), plasma display, electroluminescent (EL) lamp display, solar array, solar panel, light emitting diode (LED) substrate, glass, sapphire , Or any other material that can have a material deposited on it, such as metals, metal alloys, and any other material such as other conductive materials. The substrate 200 may include one or more electrical devices, such as various N-type metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS) and/or P-type metal oxide semiconductor (PMOS) devices such as transistors, capacitors, resistors, diodes, photodiodes, fuses, and the like. Can be formed. It is contemplated that the substrate 200 is not limited to any particular size or shape. Thus, the substrate 200 may be a circular substrate having a diameter of 200 mm, a diameter of 300 mm, or other diameters such as 450 mm, among others. The substrate 200 may also be any polygonal, square, rectangular, curvilinear or other non-circular workpiece.

[0023] At block 104, a fluid layer 206 is formed on the substrate 200. The fluid layer 206 may be a dielectric layer containing at least silicon. In some embodiments, the flowable layer 206 is a dielectric layer containing at least silicon and oxygen. In some embodiments, the flowable layer 206 is a dielectric layer containing at least silicon and nitrogen. In some embodiments, the flowable layer 206 is a dielectric layer containing at least silicon, oxygen and nitrogen. When the fluid layer 206 is a dielectric layer containing silicon, oxygen and nitrogen, a silicon-containing precursor, an oxygen-based radical precursor into the deposition chamber to form the fluid layer 206 on the substrate 200. And a nitrogen-based radical precursor can be introduced. A flowable layer 206 may be deposited on the exposed surface of the substrate 200 to fill the trenches 204. In one embodiment, a fluid layer 206 is formed over the bottom surface 207 of the trench 204 and along the sidewall surface 209, as shown in FIG. 2B. A suitable flowable layer 206 can include, but is not limited to, SiC, SiO, SiCN, SiO ₂ , SiOC, SiOCN, SiON, or SiN. Alternatively, the fluent layer 206 may be free of traceable amounts of carbon (ie, free of carbon).

[0024] The flowable layer 206 provides flowability that allows the trench 204 to be filled up seamlessly or void-free, bottom-up (from the bottom). Flowability may be due, at least in part, to the short chain polysilazane polymer present in the deposited layer. For example, the deposited layer can have a Silazane-type Si-NH-Si backbone (ie, Si-N-H layer). The nitrogen, which allows the formation and flowability of short-chain polymers, comes from either radical precursors or silicon-containing precursors. Since the dielectric layer is fluid, the dielectric layer allows bottom-up filling of trenches having a high aspect ratio without creating voids in the trenches 204. The deposition of the fluidized layer 206 can be stopped when the defined deposition thickness is reached. In one embodiment, the prescribed deposition thickness “T1” is in the range of about 20 Å to about 300 Å. The fluidity of the dielectric layer decreases as the deposition progresses and is substantially removed during subsequent curing/plasma treatment steps.

[0025] Suitable silicon-containing precursors may include organosilicon compounds having a ratio of oxygen atoms to silicon atoms of 0 to about 6. Suitable organosilicon compounds include one or more halogen moieties such as siloxane compounds, tetrachlorosilanes, dichlorodiethoxysiloxanes, chlorotriethoxysiloxanes, hexachlorodisiloxanes, and/or octachlorotrisiloxanes (eg, fluorides, chlorides). , Bromide, or iodide), and trisilylamine (TSA), hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS), silatrane, tetrakis(dimethylamino)silane, bis(diethylamino)silane, tris(dimethyl) -Amino)chlorosilanes, and aminosilanes such as methylsilatrane. Other silicon-containing precursors, such as silanes, halogenated silanes, organosilanes, and combinations of any of them can also be used. Silanes include silane (SiH ₄ ), and higher order silanes having the empirical formula Si _x H _(2x+2) , such as disilane (Si ₂ H ₆ ), trisilane (Si ₃ H ₈ ), and tetrasilane (Si ₄ H ₁₀ ), Or it may include other higher order silanes, such as polychlorosilanes.

[0026] Oxygen-based radical precursors, oxygen _(O 2), ozone _{(O 3), NO, NO} 2, or _{N 2} O, such as nitrogen in - oxygen compound, hydrogen such as water or peroxide - oxygen compound, It may include carbon-oxygen compounds such as carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide, and other oxygen-containing precursors, and oxygen radicals formed from any combination thereof. Oxygen radicals can be generated remotely and introduced with the silicon-containing precursor. The oxygen-based radical precursor can be activated prior to its introduction into the deposition chamber using a remote plasma source, which can have, for example, a CCP (capacitively coupled plasma) or ICP (inductively coupled plasma) configuration.

[0027] The nitrogen-based radical precursor is nitrogen (N ₂ ), nitrous oxide (N ₂ O), nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO ₂ ), ammonia (NH ₃ ), or any one of them. It may include nitrogen radicals formed from the combination. The nitrogen radicals can be generated at a remote location and introduced with the silicon-containing precursor and the oxygen-based radical precursor. The nitrogen-based radical precursor can be activated prior to introduction into the deposition chamber using a remote plasma source, which can have, for example, a CCP (capacitively coupled plasma) or ICP (inductively coupled plasma) configuration.

[0028] In some implementations, an oxygen-based radical precursor is flowed into the deposition chamber at a first volumetric flow rate and a silicon-containing precursor is flowed into the deposition chamber at a second volumetric flow rate. The ratio of the volumetric flow rate to the second volumetric flow rate is between about 0.3:1 and about 0.9:1, such as between about 0.5:1 and about 0.7:1, for example about 0.6:. Can be controlled to 1.

[0029] In some implementations, a nitrogen-based radical precursor is flown into the deposition chamber at a first volume flow rate and a silicon-containing precursor is flowed into the deposition chamber at a second volume flow rate to the first volume flow rate. The ratio of the volumetric flow rate to the second volumetric flow rate is between about 0.2:1 and about 0.8:1, such as between about 0.4:1 and about 0.6:1, for example about 0.5:. Can be controlled to 1.

[0030] If a radical precursor containing both oxygen and nitrogen radicals is used, it is believed that the oxygen-based radical precursor or the nitrogen-based radical precursor can be omitted.

[0031] Silicon-containing precursors, oxygen-based radical precursors, and nitrogen-based radical precursors may react at temperatures of about 150 degrees Celsius or less, such as about 100 degrees Celsius or less, for example about 65 degrees Celsius. During formation of the flowable dielectric layer, the chamber pressure of the deposition chamber can be maintained at about 0.1 Torr to about 10 Torr, such as about 0.5 Torr to about 6 Torr. To control sufficiently thin deposition, the deposition rate can be controlled below about 50 Å/sec. In some implementations, the deposition rate is controlled to about 5 Å/sec or less, for example about 4 Å/sec. A low deposition rate (5 Å/sec or less) may be advantageous in some applications as it allows the formation of void-free, surface-rough, fluid layers.

[0032] At block 106, flow of the silicon-containing precursor, the oxygen-based radical precursor, and the nitrogen-based radical precursor once the fluidized layer reaches a prescribed deposition thickness "T1" (eg, about 20-300Å). And the substrate is subjected to a first curing process 231 in the curing chamber, as shown in FIG. 2C. The cured fluid layer 206 exhibits a high density, good stability, and can withstand the high temperatures implemented in subsequent plasma treatments (block 108). The curing chamber may use any suitable curing technique such as UV light curing, heat curing, microwave curing, plasma curing, electron beam curing, or neutral (particle) beam curing. In some implementations, the curing process is optional and can be omitted. In some implementations, the cure chamber is a UV cure chamber. Exemplary cure chambers may include a Producer® NANOCURE ^™ 3 UV cure chamber, both commercially available from Applied Materials, Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif. It is contemplated that other suitable curing chambers from other manufacturers may be used to carry out the processes described herein.

[0033] The curing process 231 may be performed under an oxygen-containing atmosphere, a nitrogen-containing atmosphere, and/or an inert gas atmosphere. The oxygen-containing atmosphere includes molecular oxygen (O ₂ ), ozone (O ₃ ), water vapor (H ₂ O), nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO ₂ ), nitrous oxide (N ₂ O), and It can be made by introducing one or more oxygen-containing gases, such as any combination thereof, into the cure chamber. Nitrogen-containing atmosphere is nitrogen (N _2), ammonia (NH _3), and can be made by introducing into them any of the cure chamber one or more nitrogen-containing gas such as a combination. The inert atmosphere can be created by introducing helium, argon, hydrogen, krypton, xenon, and any combination thereof into the cure chamber. If desired, curing under radical atmosphere, ie using radicals from oxygen-containing gas, nitrogen-containing gas or inert gas, to facilitate incorporation of oxygen/nitrogen atoms into the fluidized layer 206. It is possible to carry out the treatment.

[0034] In some embodiments where the fluidizable layer is an oxide, the curing process 231 can be performed under an oxygen-containing atmosphere. In the above case, the curing treatment may use heat or UV under an ozone atmosphere for the purpose of oxygen insertion and film crosslinking. The oxygen-containing atmosphere provides oxygen that transforms the fluidizable layer, which may be a silicon-containing layer, into a silicon oxide layer. If the fluid layer is a nitride, the curing process can be performed under a nitrogen-containing atmosphere. In the above case, the curing process may use UV under nitrogen or ammonia atmosphere to nitrid the flowable layer to increase the nitrogen concentration of the deposited layer. In either case, the curing process may stabilize the volatile bonds of the deposited layer, thereby helping to form a thermally stable layer prior to plasma treatment (block 108). Usually, long UV treatment results in reduced shrinkage after plasma treatment and near-neutral film stress.

[0035] In one implementation, the curing process 231 uses UV light curing techniques. The curing treatment can allow film cross-linking under the desired (reactive or inert) atmosphere, temperature and pressure, either thermally or with the aid of UV photons. Illustrative UV light curing techniques may include providing light or photon energy from one or more UV light sources that project light onto a substrate. These UV light sources may include UV lamps that emit light over a broad wavelength spectrum (including other than UV wavelengths) having a peak intensity at UV wavelengths (eg 220 nm). Examples of UV lamps include xenon lamps (peak emission wavelength: 172 nm), mercury lamps (peak: 243 nm), deuterium lamps (peak: 140 nm), krypton chloride (KrCl ₂ ) lamps, among other types of UV lamps. (Peak: 222 nm) is included. Additional UV light sources can include lasers that provide narrow band UV light that is coherent to the fluidized layer. The laser light source may include suitable harmonics of an excimer laser (eg XeCl, KrF, F _2, etc., excimer laser) and/or a solid state laser (eg Nd-YAG laser). The UV light source may also include a diode UV light source.

[0036] During the curing process 231, the fluidizable layer 206 is cured for about 10 seconds to about 60 minutes, which may vary depending on the application. The pressure in the cure chamber may range from about 1 Torr to about 600 Torr, such as about 10 Torr to 150 Torr. Curing temperatures range from about 5 degrees Celsius to about 1100 degrees Celsius, such as about 10 degrees Celsius, about 25 degrees Celsius, about 50 degrees Celsius, about 100 degrees Celsius, about 200 degrees Celsius, about 300 degrees Celsius, about 400 degrees Celsius. Degrees, about 500 degrees Celsius, about 600 degrees Celsius, about 700 degrees Celsius, about 800 degrees Celsius, about 900 degrees Celsius, about 1000 degrees Celsius. In one example, the curing process is a heat curing process performed at a temperature of about 350 degrees Celsius and an ozone atmosphere of about 500 Torr for about 100 seconds.

[0037] In some cases where thermal curing is adapted, the curing process may be performed in situ in the deposition chamber where the fluidized layer 206 is deposited, or a plasma treatment may be performed, depending on the curing temperature and pressure. Can be performed in a plasma chamber (block 108).

[0038] At block 108, to further cure the dielectric layer formed on the substrate 200, as shown in FIG. 2D, after the deposition process is complete (or after an optional cure process, if implemented). Then, the substrate 200 is subjected to a second curing process 233 in the plasma chamber. In one embodiment, the second curing process 233 is a plasma process. The plasma chamber may be any suitable chamber that uses plasma or plasma assisted technology. The plasma chamber generates a high density plasma at high temperature and bombards the ions from the high density plasma to a layer to be cured (block 106) or a flowable dielectric layer (block 104, if no curing is performed). Higher density and further hardening.

[0039] Depending on the material, the plasma treatment may include an oxygen-containing atmosphere (when the layer to be cured or the fluid dielectric layer is an oxide) or a nitrogen-containing atmosphere (where the layer to be cured or the fluid dielectric layer is nitrided). If it is a product), it can be carried out under. The oxygen-containing atmosphere includes molecular oxygen (O ₂ ), ozone (O ₃ ), water vapor (H ₂ O), nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO ₂ ), nitrous oxide (N ₂ O), and It can be created by introducing one or more oxygen-containing gases, such as any combination thereof, into the plasma chamber. The nitrogen-containing atmosphere can be created by introducing one or more nitrogen-containing gases such as nitrogen (N ₂ ), ammonia (NH ₃ ), and any combination thereof into the plasma chamber. In either case, an inert gas such as argon, hydrogen, or helium may be introduced into the plasma chamber. For example, when the layer to be cured or the fluid dielectric layer is an oxide, the plasma treatment can be performed under an oxygen/helium atmosphere, an oxygen/argon atmosphere, or an oxygen/hydrogen atmosphere. When the layer to be cured or the fluid dielectric layer is a nitride, the plasma treatment can be performed under a nitrogen/ammonia atmosphere, a nitrogen/hydrogen atmosphere, or a nitrogen/helium atmosphere.

[0040] In some implementations, the plasma treatment can be a radical-based treatment. For example, the oxygen-containing atmosphere may be, or may further include, radical oxygen nuclides and/or radical hydroxyl species that may be generated remotely and transported into the plasma chamber. Similarly, the nitrogen-containing atmosphere may be, or further include, radical nitrogen nuclides that are created remotely and can be transported into the plasma chamber. Plasma treatment using radicals can be performed under high pressure (eg, 1 Torr or higher, eg, about 10-40 Torr) and/or with a pulsed RF power waveform. For example, the plasma treatment may be an inductively coupled plasma using pulsed source power operating in standard mode (ie, using the same RF frequency and the currents flowing through the coil antenna are in phase).

[0041] During plasma processing, the layer to be cured or the flowable dielectric layer is further converted to oxides or nitrides due to the oxygen or nitrogen atmosphere present in the plasma chamber. Since the Si—N bond energy (355 KJ/mol) and the N—H bond energy (386 KJ/mol) are lower than the Si—O bond energy (452 KJ/mol), a layer or a fluid dielectric that is cured by an oxygen atmosphere is used. Substitution of Si—N bond or N—H bond into Si—O bond of the body layer is promoted. Therefore, when the plasma treatment is carried out in an oxygen-containing atmosphere, the layer to be hardened or the flowable dielectric layer (with Si-NH-Si backbone) is further converted into a silicon oxide layer. If the plasma treatment is carried out under a nitrogen-containing atmosphere, the layer to be cured or the flowable dielectric layer (with Si-NH-Si backbone) is further converted into a silicon nitride layer. Therefore, plasma treatment is a combination of material conversion and densification in one step and is conventionally performed conventionally to incorporate more oxygen or nitrogen atoms into the layer after the curing treatment to form the FCVD film. No long-term thermal annealing is required. The high density plasma may also allow a lower thermal budget than thermal annealing. As a result, the overall thermal budget of the manufacturing process is reduced.

[0042] In some implementations, the plasma treatment uses a first oxygen/helium atmosphere, an oxygen/argon atmosphere, or an oxygen/hydrogen atmosphere (where the layer to be cured or the fluid dielectric layer is an oxide). And the second plasma treatment step using an inert gas atmosphere such as helium. When the layer to be cured or the fluid dielectric layer is a nitride, the plasma treatment includes a first plasma treatment step using a nitrogen/ammonia atmosphere, a nitrogen/hydrogen atmosphere, or a nitrogen/helium atmosphere, and a helium or the like. A second plasma treatment step using an inert environment. Plasma treatment under an inert environment (eg, helium) can cause existing bonds in the film to be broken and reconstituted by collisions with high-energy ions, releasing the film stress and forming a dense network. , Effective for increasing the density of the film.

[0043] The plasma chamber may be any suitable plasma reactor having separate control over the power input to the plasma source generator and the power input to the substrate biasing device. In one implementation, the plasma chamber is an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) chamber. In the above case, the plasma chamber controls the supply of inductively coupled RF power that determines the plasma density (source power), and the RF power used to generate the bias voltage (bias power) at the substrate surface. Or a bias controller that controls the supply of DC power. This bias voltage is used to attract ions from the plasma formed in the processing region to the substrate 200. This bias voltage can be used to control the impact energy of the ionic nuclide on the layer to be cured (or the fluid dielectric layer if no curing is performed). Source power and pressure are adjusting knobs (knobs) that control ionization. The bias power provides an additional tuning knob for tuning the ion energy in the depth control of the film process. The low power (eg, less than about 5 mTorr) in addition to the bias power allows for long mean free path and deep trench layer processing. One suitable plasma chamber is the Centura® Advanced ^™ Mesa ^™ etching chamber available from Applied Materials, Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif.

[0044] Although an ICP chamber is used in this disclosure as an example to form a plasma, a capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) source, a separated plasma source (DPS), a magnetron plasma source, an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) Sources, or other plasma sources such as microwave plasma sources, could be used.

[0045] If an ICP chamber is used, the following chamber processing parameters may be used to perform the plasma processing. These parameters can be used to treat the layer to be cured (block 106) or the flowable dielectric layer (block 104), as described above. In various implementations, the cured layer is an oxide or nitride. The chamber pressure may be from about 1 milliTorr (mTorr) to about 10 Torr, for example about 2 milliTorr to about 1 Torr, for example about 5 milliTorr to about 88 milliTorr. Source power may be from about 50 watts (W) to about 650 W, such as from about 100 W to about 500 W, such as from about 250 W to about 450 W. Source power may be applied in the radio frequency (RF) band from about 30 MHz to about 60 MHz. The bias power supplied to the substrate support of the ICP chamber may be about 10W to about 450W, such as about 50W to about 300W, for example 100W to about 200W. Bias power may be applied in the radio frequency (RF) band from about 10 MHz to about 30 MHz. The substrate temperature may be about 550 degrees Celsius or less, such as about 300 degrees Celsius to about 500 degrees Celsius, for example about 350 degrees Celsius. The gas flow of the first gas (eg, an oxygen-containing gas or a nitrogen-containing gas) may be about 60 seem to about 5000 seem, such as about 100 seem to about 2200 seem, such as about 300 seem to about 1000 seem. The gas flow of the second gas (eg, an inert gas) may be about 5 seem to about 250 seem, such as about 10 seem to about 150 seem, such as about 20 seem to about 100 seem. The processing time may be about 10 seconds to about 120 seconds, such as about 30 seconds to about 90 seconds, such as about 45 seconds to about 60 seconds. The processing parameters described herein are based on a 300 mm substrate. These processing parameters may vary depending on the thickness of the layer to be cured (block 106) or the flowable dielectric layer (block 104), the size of the trench 204, the size of the substrate 200, the performance of the plasma chamber, the application, etc. it is conceivable that.

[0046] After block 108, whether the deposited dielectric layer (ie, the cured and/or treated fluid layer 206) has reached the target height "T2", as shown in FIG. 2E. Decision 110 is made. The target height “T2” of the deposited dielectric layer is about 500 Å to about 8000 Å, for example about 1000 Å to about 6000, measured from the bottom surface 207 of the trench 204 to the top surface 211 of the deposited dielectric layer. It may be Angstrom. If the target height “T2” has not been reached, a cycle of deposition/curing/plasma treatment (eg blocks 104-108) before again comparing the thickness of the cured/plasma treated layer with the desired thickness. Can be carried out again. The process of blocks 104, 106 and 108 may be repeated until the deposited dielectric layer reaches the target height "T2".

[0047] Once the target height "T2" is reached, the deposited dielectric layer is planarized by chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) or the like, as shown in FIG. The top surface 210 of the deposited dielectric layer is coplanar. Next, a recess is formed in the substrate 200, such as by using an acceptable etching process, and the tops 213 of the fins 202 may be exposed or exposed. The etching process may be performed in the same plasma chamber in which the plasma process (block 108) is performed. Substrate 200 is then transferred from the plasma chamber to the load lock chamber and then to one or more front opening unified pods (FOUPs) for manufacturing integrated circuit chips in the front opening unified pods (FOUPs). Transferred to another processing system for downstream processing, such as optional replacement gate formation, epitaxial deposition, cleaning, annealing, thermal, chemical vapor deposition, oxidation or nitridation.

[0048] FIG. 3 is a schematic top view of a processing system 300 that may be used to implement the processing sequences described in FIG. 1, according to implementations of the present disclosure. One example of processing system 300 is the PRODUCER® or CENTRIS ^™ system commercially available from Applied Materials, Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif. The processing system 300 includes a vacuum tight processing platform 302 and a factory interface 304. The platform 202 is disposed between and connected to the plurality of processing chambers 306a-b, 308a-b, 310a-b connected to the vacuum substrate transfer chamber 312 and between the vacuum substrate transfer chamber 312 and the factory interface 304. Load lock chamber 314.

[0049] Factory interface 304 includes at least one factory interface robot 316, 318 that facilitates transfer of substrates. The factory interface 304 is configured to receive one or more front opening unified pods (FOUPs) 320. In one example, three FOUPs are adapted. The factory interface robots 316, 318 transfer substrates (eg, substrates described in block 102) from the factory interface 304 to the processing platform 302, where at least one transfer robot 322 in the processing platform 302 transfers the substrates from the factory interface robots 316, 318. And then transfer them to any of the processing chambers 306a-b, 308a-b, 310a-b. In one implementation, process chambers 306a-b are deposition chambers that can be used to perform the process described in block 104. Process chambers 308a-b are curing chambers that may be used to perform the process described in block 106. The processing chambers 310a-b are plasma chambers that may be used to perform the process described in block 108 and the fin exposing process. Upon completion of processing, the substrate is transferred by the transfer robot 322 to the load lock chamber 314. The factory interface robots 314, 316 then receive the substrates from the load lock chamber 314 and transfer them back to the FOUP 320.

[0050] FIG. 4 is a schematic top view of a processing system 400 that may be used to implement the processing of the processing sequence shown in FIG. 1, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In one exemplary implementation, processing system 400 is a high volume manufacturing (HVM) system used to perform the particular processes (eg, blocks 102, 104 and 108) shown in FIG. The processing system 400 includes a vacuum-tight processing platform 402 and a factory interface 404. The platform 402 includes a plurality of processing chambers 406a-d, 408a-f connected to a first vacuum substrate transfer chamber 412 and a second vacuum substrate transfer chamber 413, respectively, and a first vacuum substrate transfer chamber 412 and a first vacuum substrate transfer chamber 412. A cooling station 415 disposed between the two vacuum substrate transfer chambers 413 and a load lock chamber 414 disposed between and coupled to the first vacuum substrate transfer chamber 412 and the factory interface 404. ..

[0051] Factory interface 404 includes at least one factory interface robot 416, 418 that facilitates transfer of substrates. Factory interface 404 is configured to receive one or more front opening unified pods (FOUPs) 420. In one example, four FOUPs are adapted. Factory interface robots 416, 418 transfer substrates (eg, substrates described in block 102) from factory interface 404 to processing platform 402. At least one transfer robot 422 of the first vacuum substrate transfer chamber 412 receives substrates from the factory interface robots 416, 418 and then transfers them to any of the processing chambers 406a-d. In one implementation, the processing chambers 406a-d are plasma chambers that can be used to perform the processing described in block 108. An optional transfer robot 417 may be located at the cooling station 415 to transfer substrates between the first vacuum substrate transfer chamber 412 and the second vacuum substrate transfer chamber 413. At least one transfer robot 419 in the second vacuum substrate transfer chamber 413 receives the substrates from the cooling station 415 and then transfers them to any of the processing chambers 408a-f. Alternatively, the transfer robot 417 can be omitted and the transfer robots 417, 422 cooperate to transfer the substrate between the first vacuum substrate transfer chamber 412 and the second vacuum substrate transfer chamber 413. be able to. In one implementation, process chambers 408a-f are deposition chambers that may be used to perform the process described in block 104. The substrate can be transferred between the deposition chamber (ie, processing chambers 408a-f) and the plasma chamber (ie, processing chambers 406a-d) until the deposited dielectric layer reaches the target height. Upon completion of processing, the substrate is transferred to the load lock chamber 414. The factory interface robots 414, 416 then receive the substrates from the load lock chamber 414 and transfer them back to the FOUP 420.

[0052] In general, the embodiments described herein relate to methods for forming and filling trenches in a substrate using a flowable dielectric layer. The method flows ions from a high density inductively coupled plasma under an oxygen-containing/inert gas or nitrogen-containing/inert gas atmosphere to convert the dielectric layer to the composition of the target layer and densify it. Impacting the dielectric layer. A curing treatment may be inserted between the fluid deposition and the plasma treatment to aid in film cross-linking and incorporation of oxygen/nitrogen atoms into the fluid dielectric layer. These treatments are carried out as a cycle until the desired thickness is reached. Cycling allows stable and good quality of the dielectric layer at the bottom of the trench while minimizing deposition on the trench sidewalls.

[0053] Although the above description is directed to implementations of the disclosure, other and further implementations of the disclosure may be devised without departing from the basic scope of the disclosure. The scope of the is determined by the claims below.

Claims (15)

A method of processing a substrate, the method comprising:
Subjecting a substrate having at least one trench to a bottom-up formation of a fluid layer, a silicon-containing dielectric layer, on the bottom and sidewall surfaces of the trench until a prescribed deposition thickness is reached. When,
Performing a first curing treatment, which is a UV curing treatment, on the fluid layer;
Then, subjecting the UV-cured fluidized layer to a second curing treatment which is a plasma treatment or a plasma-assisted treatment;
The deposition process, the first curing process, and the second curing process are continuously performed until the plasma-cured fluidized layer fills the trench and reaches a specified height above the upper surface of the trench. Repetitively performing. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first curing treatment is performed under a radical-based atmosphere containing oxygen, nitrogen, or an inert gas. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second curing treatment is performed in an oxygen/helium atmosphere, an oxygen/argon atmosphere, or an oxygen/hydrogen atmosphere. The method according to claim 3, wherein the second curing treatment is performed in a radical-based atmosphere. The method of claim 1, wherein the fluidizable layer is deposited at a deposition rate of about 5 Å/sec or less. A method of processing a substrate, the method comprising:
Performing a deposition process by reacting a silicon-containing precursor with an oxygen-based radical precursor and a nitrogen-based radical precursor to form a fluidized layer within a trench in the substrate;
Curing the fluid layer in a plasma chamber, wherein the second processing chamber has an oxygen-containing atmosphere or a nitrogen-containing atmosphere, and curing the fluid layer;
Filling the trench with the cured fluidized layer and continuously repeating the deposition process and the curing process until reaching a defined height above the upper surface of the trench. The flowable _{layer, SiC, SiO, SiCN, SiO} 2, SiOC, SiOCN, SiON, or SiN, The method of claim 6. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the silicon-containing precursor comprises a siloxane compound or a halogenated siloxane compound containing one or more halogen moieties. Further curing the fluidizable layer further comprises:
Bombarding the fluidized layer with ions under an oxygen/helium atmosphere, an oxygen/argon atmosphere, or an oxygen/hydrogen atmosphere;
Bombarding the fluidized bed with ions under an inert gas atmosphere. The method of claim 9, wherein curing the fluidizable layer is performed in an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) chamber. Curing the fluidizable layer further comprises:
The method of claim 9, comprising applying bias power to the substrate at a chamber pressure of about 5 mTorr or less. Further comprising curing the fluid layer using UV energy under an oxygen-containing atmosphere, a nitrogen-containing atmosphere, or an inert gas atmosphere after performing the deposition process and before curing the fluid layer. 7. The method according to claim 6. The method of claim 12, wherein curing the fluidizable layer with UV energy is performed under a radical-based atmosphere. A cluster tool for processing substrates,
A load lock chamber,
A transfer chamber connected to the first side of the load lock chamber;
A plurality of first processing chambers connected to the transfer chamber, each of the plurality of first processing chambers being a deposition chamber capable of performing a deposition of a fluidized layer;
A plurality of second processing chambers connected to the transfer chamber, each of which is a curing chamber capable of performing a thermal curing process, such as a UV light curing chamber, a thermal curing chamber, a microwave curing chamber, and a plasma curing. A plurality of second processing chambers selected from the group consisting of chambers, electron beam curing chambers, and neutral beam curing chambers;
A plurality of third processing chambers connected to the transfer chamber, each being a plasma chamber capable of performing a plasma hardening process, at least one of which is an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) chamber or a capacitively coupled plasma processing chamber. A plurality of third processing chambers, which are plasma (CCP) chambers;
A cluster tool comprising a factory interface coupled to a second side of a load chamber. 15. The first processing chamber is a high density plasma CVD chamber, the second processing chamber is a UV light curing chamber, and the third processing chamber is an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) chamber. Cluster tool as described.

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